Dancing With Monsters

by M.M. Gavillet

  Chapter Ten

  April

  I knew I wasn't going to get loose, but I kept pulling at the metal threads around my wrists until blood dripped from them. I had to get out of here, and escaping by breaking free, wasn't going to work. I was in the demon's land now, and with no place to go, no place to run, I had to escape by other means.

  "You shouldn't hurt yourself like that, daughter," Eveie said, gazing at me with her bright eyes. I didn't like her calling me daughter, and ignored it.

  I always thought demons would be ugly, gross creatures, but at least Eveie wasn't. She looked like an exotic fish with her iridescent scales that gleamed like jewels and her red hair contrasted with all of her glittering lightness-she looked more angelic than anything.

  I knew there was no chance at freeing my arms and running off in some unknown direction. I was in their land, and I didn't know where the portal was exactly. And if I found it, I had no idea how to work it. I'd have to escape by another tactic.

  "You're pretty," I said with a surprised look from her.

  "Really," she snickered. "What makes you say that?" She grinned as she crossed her arms waiting for my reply.

  I studied her for a few seconds thinking carefully of what my answer would be. "I always thought demons would be ugly, but you are beautiful."

  "Hmmm," she sounded surprised as if no one had ever told her that. "Some wouldn't say that because beauty is defined in so many ways. Take some plants for example. Some of the most beautiful flowers are the deadliest if consumed. So, even though I truly think you find me attractive in as one would look at art, I'd look closer and wait to make a compliment until you've studied every inch of who I am."

  I thought my kind remarks would've caught her off guard, because how many people say to a demon that they are attractive. I would have to work harder to charm the scales off of her if I was to even attempt to reach the heavily guarded portal.

  "But daughter, I'm glad you can see some beauty in me because I plan on keeping you as I planned so long ago," she said bending down beside me.

  "You're mother never wanted you." Her words surprised me and I gasped as if an iron spike was being driven through my chest. "Actually, I had no intentions of biting you. It was a spur-of the-moment decision on my part that is now paying off."

  I swallowed hard. "You knew who my mother was?"

  Her eyes narrowed. "I'm your mother, and no one else." She grabbed my chin making me look into her eyes.

  "Get away from her!" Malachi yelled with one eye swollen and the other barely open.

  Eveie turned and hissed at him until the hissing turned to amused laughter. Malachi had come with me through the portal. I didn't think he'd risk his life to save mine, and now, I felt obligated to save him as well.

  "Oh, little monster, how paths can cross in the most unexpected ways." She tousled his hair as he flinched at her touch. Eveie only laughed as you would at the antics of kittens playing.

  "It seems like you were just a boy a few days ago, and just look at you," she said, opening her arms to him as if showing him off to an invisible crowd. "You are practically a grown monster-delicious," she licked her lips.

  "But mother," I said, even though the words were bitter on my tongue. I had to play this mother-daughter game with Eveie if I was going to win any trust with her. "He is useless to us, leave him be."

  "April, don't listen to her!" Malachi yelled, oblivious to my plan.

  Eveie gave a scowl and slapped him across the face.

  "I thought about taking you-never had a little boy before-but Ebony said to leave you so you could spread word of the handy work of demons." She lifted him to his feet. "You are like a doll to me-like one of April's dolls she use to play with."

  Just the thought of Eveie watching me grow up, made me shudder. All those years of those vivid, blue eyes watching me, unnoticed, following me, and making me her daughter in them, should have been disturbing, but it wasn't. There was something in her, deep within her that drove her to do what she did.

  "Let him go!" I yelled. "You have me now, mother!"

  Eveie held him for a second more then dropped him to the ground, just like a toddler would when done playing with a doll. Malachi gasped for air as he laid on the floor.

  Eveie turned, and came over to me with a smile. She untied my hands and took my bloody wrists in her hands examining them.

  "Medusa string is a wicked thing," she said, running her hands over the several gashes that lined my wrists. "There, and without the use of serpents oil." She smiled with a shrug of her shoulders.

  I looked at my wrists. "Thank you," I said looking into her eyes, and for a moment, a piece of humanity stared back at me. I wasn't sure if it was something of Ezra in me that allowed me to see it, but there was more to Eveie than just being a village-killing demon.

  "Eveie, what are you doing?!" A harsh voice erupted behind her. "You were just supposed to watch her, not undo her restraints so she could escape like a rat!"

  As if being called to attention, Eveie got up, but stood protectively in front of me. I leaned over to have a look at the demon.

  Wrinkled, white, parchment-like skin, hung on her face as if it was clinging to it, and could possibly fall off at any time to expose the bone underneath. Her eyes reminded me of the deep potholes that littered the parking lot at Sunrise Acres-muddy-brown, covered with the dull colors of oil that skimmed the surface of the disgusting water that dripped from the bus that parked there. Her arms were bony with knobby elbows, and her fingers were long and stringy that curled around like tiny snakes. She was dressed in a long, black coat that was sleeveless and had an arched collar that haloed around the back of her head. Her hair, if you could call it that, consisted of a few strands of silver that floated delicately around her wrinkled face.

  "Eos," Eveie whispered her name. "She wouldn't stop trying to loosen her ties, so I took them off or she would have cut off her hands. Then where would we be? We need her alive and well to take her energy."

  Eos stepped in front of her and gazed into Eveie's eyes as if searching for something. "You have severed your ties with this monster." She questioned. "You cannot have any feelings for her." Eos stood close to Eveie. "Not that demons are supposed to have any feelings for little monster children," she said under her breath, but loud enough for us to hear. "Very well, bring her to the garden, and let's get our power we so deserve."

  Seth